Second Name

source: Second Name

The movie was simply weird, and not weird in any interesting sense. The main character spends most of her screen time by hysterics and running around like headless chicken, by snapping at everyone like it would be going out of style - I understand that she is going through a very difficult time and all that, but still it surprised me quite a bit that someone didn't just slap her to snap her out of it, as I probably wouldn't do much else than to slap her every five minutes, so she would make at least a bit of sense. All in all, if not for the occasional really thrilling moment and interesting music, this movie would very easily get a complete zero from me.

Daniella Logan (Erica Prior) sees her world turned upside down when her father commits suicide. Telling her catatonic mother the news, Daniella is startled when the mom responds with the word "Josephine" and it sets her on an investigation into her past. The second of Filmax's Ramsey Campbell adaptations (after Jaume Balagueró's THE NAMELESS), this isn't as good as the first one, but it is probably just as dark and disturbing. Seriously, Campbell loves him some screwed up families. Director/co-writer Paco Plaza - who would later co-helm two of the REC films with Balagueró - doesn't have as good a style and tends to lay blasting violins pretty thick over the more emotional moments. It is still pretty engaging and has some twists that you think you have predicted, but then you get swerved again. Also has one of the bleakest endings I've seen in a long time. Amazingly, this wasn't picked up by the Weinsteins during their spending sprees and hasn't seen a U.S. release.

Inauspicious English language feature debut from Paco Plaza, who would go on to direct horror hits such as the REC films and Veronica. Although his skills of visual composition and evoking a sense of mood are already present, he fails to create an engaging story. For a mystery/horror film, there is very little of either. The odd, stilted performances by the actors delivering odd, stilted lines of dialogue only add to the film's woes.

Seems like everyone forgot how to act in this movie, the lead character has 0 emotional depth think of Kristen Stewart x 100 sad , happy , angry she cant show any emotion. For a movie set in the uk the police officer looks like he has time traveled from the 1920s. And the officers wore puffy leather jackets , the story is really badly scripted the lead character makes a lot if stupid mistakes

Spanish terror has been a source of good films over the past few years, many of them even frankly better than their American competitors. However, after having seen this film, I think it is one of the weakest and least interesting Spanish horror films I have ever seen. The whole story revolves around the mysterious suicide of Daniella's father. Very shaken by these loss, she visits her mother, who is in a psychiatric ward, in order to give her the news, but she calls her by another name. This small fact, associated with the desecration of her father's grave and the appearance of a disturbed stranger who claims to be her real father, set the girl on a search for the real reasons why her father decided to kill himself, discovering that he was associated with a ancient ultra-radical religious sect: the Abramites. Well, the film has good premises and begins from a promising starting point. But everything is so slow and the film drags on so much that it becomes tiring and, after a certain moment, predictable. Another problem with this film, I think, is that it delivers much of the mystery too soon, taking away from the story a lot of strength and impact. The tension that is almost a prerogative of Spanish horror is so thin and arises so sparse that it hardly feels. The ending is, at the very least, a disappointment. I don't mean to say that all films should have a happy ending, but I think it was a weak ending to what the film promised. The cast is headed by Erica Prior, who does what she can but does not have, I think, the ability and experience to do better. Perhaps the bet on a more experienced or charismatic actress would have been better. Craig Hill was convincing in his role, along with his real-life wife, Teresa Gimpera. Craig Stevenson, John O'Toole and Frank O'Sullivan do well in what they can do, but they are not enough to support the film, they just give as much support as possible. The rest just appear. Technically, it is a regular film that does not stand out in any way. The best technical aspect here is the good cinematography, dark and misty, essential to keep the tension that the film, at cost, is able to build. Soundtrack also helps, but it doesn't stand out. The song at the ending seemed especially unreasonable. It could have been maintained but without voice, like an instrumental or piano solo, achieving in this way, I believe, much more impact.

Because of the other comments on this movie, I thought I'd write my review. First of all, I really liked the acting. It all was very natural to me and every character clearly had something unique to them. The story is intruiging, and deals with (what it looks like to me) the subject of what people are willing to sacrifice and suffer for their faith. Also the scenery and environments in this movie really stand out, a sort of dark and foreboding feeling does it show, a bit like Se7en (but less grainy and more 'stylish'). The only thing I didn't like about this movie was the ending. It is very harsh, and offers almost (telling would be a spoiler) nothing positive. 8/10

The film starts with the suicide of an old man , he results to be Theodore Logan , the father (Craig Hill, an American resident in Spain who played several Spaghetti Western) of Daniella Logan (Erica Prior) a young woman expert on entomology . Later on , she visits her crazy mummy (Teresa Gimpera, also married in real life to Craig Hill) at a mental hospital to tell the tragedy . Daniella seeking the truth about her origins goes to the graveyard his father and encounters that the dad's tomb had been profaned and his corpse was robbed . She decides to resolve it , and after gets a meeting a strange priest named Father Elias (O'Toole), who discloses her dark secrets about her parents . Later, Daniella meets a scared man , Toby Harris (Craig Stevenson), who claims to be his true father . Meanwhile , an obstinate Police Inspector named Potts (Frank O'Sullivan) is investigating the rare deeds are happening . Daniella gets a tape in which his father explains her the frightening events and uncovers a terrible truth . Based on the novel written by Ramsey Campbell , titled ¨Pact of the fathers¨ and well adapted by Paco Plaza. It contains suspense , plot-twists, tension , thrills with sensationalistic scenes . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story about an ancient fanatic religious cult of followers of Abraham ¨The Abrahamitas ¨ that murders the first-child . This tale about a young girl who is involved into a twisted intrigue begins well and grows more and more until a downbeat finale . Good special effects and efficient make-up by DDT that subsequently won Academy Award for ¨Pan's labyrinth¨ . Dark cinematography by Pablo Rosso and atmospheric musical score by Mikel Salas that includes religious chores . The flick is finely produced by the chairman of Filmax and Castelao Productions , Julio Fernandez who along with his brother Carlos Fernandez are two successful producers and experts on Horror genre , producers of hits as ¨The machinist¨ ,¨ Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, and many others. The picture is professionally directed by Paco Plaza (Romasanta, OT) who along with by Jaume Balaguero are the main Spanish filmmakers expert on terror cinema , both of whom have realized the box-office big successes as ¨Rec 1¨ and ¨Rec 2¨ , among others . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable film though slow moving .

Second Name is an average mystery/thriller movie that borrows a lot from Rosemary's Baby and The Changeling but it's far from their level. 1)It fails to create real suspense and tension: it's meant to be slow and thrilling, but don't count much on the latter. There's a couple of interesting twists but... 2)It's not particularly original (that's quite an understatement) and the story is pretty much farfetched. It's one of those movies where you can't help asking yourself: but why are these people doing what they do? In the end it's not completely bad, it's watchable, but do not expect big emotions, it's just another cliche film, keep it at the bottom of your stack and watch it when there's nothing else left) 5/10 (1=turn it off now! 2=abysmal 3=very bad 4=not good 5=watchable 6=decent 7=good 8=very good 9=must see 10=masterpiece) I recommend the aforementioned classics instead, or Darkness (if you were looking for a more recent Spanish mystery/horror movie)

After the suicide of her beloved father, the biologist Daniella Logan (Erica Prior) visits her catatonic mother in a mental institution to tell the tragic event and her mother calls her "Josephine". Daniella goes to the cemetery and finds that her father's grave had been opened and his corpse was profaned. She decides to investigate, and receives a message of a diabetic priest, Father Elias (John O'Toole), who tells her about an ancient fanatic religious sect of followers of Abraham that kills the first child. Later, she meets a weird man, Toby Harris (Craig Stevenson), who claims to be his legitimate father. Daniella continues seeking the truth about her origins and discloses very dark secrets about her family and friends. "Le Segundo Nombre" is a great low paced horror movie and the association with "Rosemary's baby" is inevitable, in spite of having different stories. The non-linear and intriguing plot is complex and very well tied without any flaws, with an interesting mystery and disclosing a very dark secret in the end. I only do not understand why a Spanish movie is released spoken in English instead of in the original language. Hollywood complex? My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Segundo Nome" ("Second Name")